Guard
by Arctimon
Summary: Even the most resilient of people need help every once in a while. Even if they never ask for it. Even if it comes from the most unlikeliest of people. Slight BB/Raven.


_**Disclaimer: **__The Teen Titans animation is the property of Glen Murakami and Warner Bros. Animation._

* * *

"You think that everything is fine, child?"

The cloaked girl looked up at the giant demon in front of her. "No...you can't be here."

"I can, and I am. You seem to think that you could escape me, dear Raven? Think again."

"Get out of my head!" She shot a large beam of black energy at the entity, but he deflected it with a wave of his hand.

"Silly girl. Your powers have gotten a bit more formidable, but they are nowhere near my level."

"I beat you once!" Raven's eyes grew dark with magic. "I can do it again!"

"Yes, but you had your friends with you then," the giant demon cackled. "How will they save you when you're all by your lonesome?"

"Shut up!"

He bent down to view the teen, who was now being dwarfed by his entire head. "Does it hurt to know that you will never truly escape who you are? I may not be able to take control directly, but rest assured, my child. You are doing a wonderful job on your own. One day, you will break. You will lose yourself. And I will be there to take you."

Raven put on her best stoic expression, trying not to be show her fear. "You're gone. You can't come back. I saw to that."

"Are you sure?"

The simple question puzzled her. Leaving the long and prolonged riddles behind to taunt her with that query wasn't-

And that's when she noticed her eyes burning.

"No."

And the second set starting to grow into her forehead.

"No!"

The red-skinned demon threw his head back in laughter. "You see, child? The great Trigon's reach knows no limits!"

"NO!"

* * *

"Ahhh!"

Raven sat up in her bed, panting heavily. The shine of the full moon in the sky sent a sliver of light through her curtains, spreading over her bed. It took a moment for her to gather her bearings and to realize that she was not in a cave in whatever realm Trigon had decided to teleport her to.

It was just her room.

There was no fire. No demonic rock formations.

She brought her hand up to her forehead. Nope, no extra eyes.

It was just her normal self.

Normal being relative, of course.

She took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. _It was just a dream,_ she thought. _Only a semi-real, sort of scary dream._

The light bulb bursting in her bathroom was a sign that thought probably wasn't the best one to have at this moment.

Raven laid back down, her mind racing. The dream had been so real, not to mention the third one of that kind that week. The first one she had attributed to Beast Boy's dinner; the Tofu-Vegetable Surprise had only succeeded in making her stomach twirl around.

The next night was her second, and while the imagery wasn't as...severe, it was enough to get her worried. She had spent all day meditating to get her center back.

And she would have gotten it too...if a certain someone hadn't rammed into her bedroom door in an attempt to dodge the stankiest of Stankballs.

Stupid Beast Boy.

He had apologized, of course, but not before Raven had sent him and Cyborg spiraling down the hallway, down the stairwell, up the elevator, around the building, and careening into the living room. It wasn't the best of remedies, but it at least made Raven feel slightly better.

He limped back up to her door with the best apologetic face he could muster, muttering all the way. She had accepted his apology, not because she was obligated, but because she wanted to get back to her meditation.

_"What're you doing in there?" _he had asked.

_"Meditating,"_ she had answered.

_"Again?"_

_"You act surprised."_

_"Well, you've been in your room for three days."  
_

_"There are reasons for that."_

_"Huh?"  
_

Raven, for reasons unbeknownst to herself, saw the confused look on his face and decided that she would confide in him, of all people, the problems she was experiencing. To his credit, he was silent through the entirety of her speech. After she had finished, he had tilted his head in concern.

_"Is there anything I can do?"_

_"I think you've done quite enough, Beast Boy,"_ Raven had noted, pushing the dent out of her door.

_"Oh."_ He had looked disappointed, the frown evident on his face. _"OK. Well, if you need anything-"_

WHAM!

The Stankball made full contact with his face, sending him down the hall. Raven had turned to see Cyborg raising his arms in a victory dance.

_"Oh yeah, that's four points!"_

And that had been that.

Beast Boy's concern had been touching, she admitted, because it was a side of him that she didn't see that often. She didn't know how he would be able to help with nightmares involving her almighty demon father, but it was nice all the same.

Speaking of which...

Raven sighed aloud. The team had defeated her father and banished him from their realm, thus purging his influence from her. But even with that development, it did not remove the fact that her emotions still needed to be in control, or else her powers would not work properly.

Or cause things to explode. Either or.

She took another deep breath. Her heart was now beating regularly, and the pain in her head had somewhat dissipated. She would need to remember to take some medicine in the morning.

She turned to her right, pulling the sheet back over her. She needed to get some sleep, or else it was going to be a long morning tomorrow. She slowly closed her eyes, the last thing in her field of vision being the pile of green fur on the grou-

Her eyes snapped back open.

Wait a minute.

Raven slowly crawled to the side of the bed and peered over it. Yup, she hadn't imagined it. There was Beast Boy, in dog form.

And fast asleep.

Her eyebrow creaked to the top of her head. She could feel the smoke starting to pour of her ears.

He was _here_.

In her room.

Several questions started to run through her mind. How did he get in? Why was he in his dog morph? And, most importantly, how in the world did he think that he would get away with it?

Raven's hand cloaked itself with dark energy, almost by itself. It wanted nothing more than to violently wake him up and send him on another whirlwind trip around the tower. Or maybe throw him in another dimension. But first things first. He had to get out.

"Beast Bo-"

And then she saw the note.

It was taped to the carpet in front of him, the chicken scratch too illegible for her to make out in the dark. She levitated it off of the ground into her open palm. Whatever he had written to explain his presence had better been good.

She peered at the note:

_Raven,_

_Thought you could use some company._

_Just in case your...problem...comes back._

_BB_

Raven dropped the paper, floored.

He had come in her room...to keep her company? To watch over her?

More surprisingly...he had actually paid attention to her talking?

It seemed like a miracle.

She shook the shock out of her head, setting the note on her bedside table. Would wonders never cease?

Raven bent down to look at her teammate. The fact that he was still in morph meant he had some conscious level of concentration to maintain his form.

He had meant it.

He wouldn't be able to do anything in the instance of Raven going completely mental, but still...

He was willing to brave Raven's room and her wrath to make sure everything was OK.

She couldn't help but smile at that thought. Beast Boy was an extreme annoyance and troublesome person to be around, but every once in a while, he did something that totally stumped her in the best of ways.

Raven took one last fleeting look at the sleeping dog next to the bed. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to show some sort of appreciation. There were no more lightbulbs to explode, after all.

She set her hand down on his head, ruffling his head for a moment.

"Good dog."

The canine only twitched in response.

She set her head down on the pillow, ready to go back to sleep. She would never admit to him that his presence was, although futile, comforting all the same. Cyborg would have set up a laser defense system, Robin would have freaked, and Starfire would have probably made her eat more "Good Sleepness" pancakes.

But Beast Boy...he didn't need to ask questions. He was there when she needed him. No questions asked.

And she was ever thankful for that.

Maybe she didn't need to say anything after all. He probably already knew.

Raven opened one eye. She just had one last thing to say.

"Thank you, Beast Boy."

...OK, one more thing.

"You're lucky I'm forgiving, or else you would be getting neutered tomorrow."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So I'm about five years too late on the BB/Rae fanfiction. :P

Teen Titans was the show that basically got me into the whole fandom craze. I'm glad that Teen Titans Go! is a good enough show for me to remember the good times that I had with the original, and the friends that I've made along the way.

Not to mention the humongous potential of the shipping involved.

These two, as mentioned by the creators, are meant to be portrayed as the old married couple of the team. Conflicting personalities, opposite sides of the spectrum, generally nothing alike. But time and time again, they prove to be just as good friends as the rest of the Team.

And just maybe more than that.

This is my first attempt that the pairing, so some things may come off as a little hokey, so apologies for that. If you want to suggest anything for me to improve upon, go ahead and leave a review for the story.

And please do so if you can. I do appreciate every single one I get.

Until next time, ladies and gents.


End file.
